Nomadic lifestyle hard to top for mobile pizza business

Camera IconJake Young says his mobile wood-fired pizza business is funding his family’s nomadic lifestyle.

A mobile wood-fired pizza and catering business is funding a WA family’s nomadic lifestyle, which has seen them travel throughout the vast State.

J’s Pizza started when chef and entrepreneur Jake Young decided to take his wood-fired pizzas on the road.

Mr Young, who used to run a pizza shop just outside Broome, said he was inundated with catering requests so he moved his pizza oven on to the back of a truck and began his foray into the mobile catering business with his wife and two young children in tow.

“I am a bit of a runaway and I just felt like doing it,” he said. “We don’t have a home base. Home is the back of the truck.

“It has evolved and our kids are just about school age, so we thought we would do this trip just before they settle in to school.”

The travelling unit targets specific events as Mr Young said there would be myriad complexities selling pizzas by the side of the road.

“We do events and cater to groups,” he said.

“It’s better to go where a crowd is rather than trying to get a crowd come to you.

“We can’t just pull up on the side of the road and cater to the general public without going to the Shire and jumping many hoops and it’s a big process we can’t afford to do.”

The trailer is strictly for business and Mr Young said it has covered the cost of the family’s travels.

“I’ve built a pop-up camper which is on the back of the truck so we live on the truck and the trailer is strictly the food preparation area and the oven,” he said.

“The business is covering the costs of our trip.

“We own everything outright and we are living quite cheaply but it does cover our fuel costs and accommodation.

“We’re not trying to focus on catering everywhere we go, it’s about keeping our costs in check until we get back to where we do our business.”

The travelling family left Esperance yesterday and stayed in Norseman overnight.

They are setting off for the Nullarbor, where Mr Young said they planned on heading north as they make their way back to Broome where they will settle for a while before hitting the road again.

“We will arrive back in Broome in May and we will stay there until September,” he said. “I’ve already got pretty much every day booked from May to September up there.

“From there we will head back down the coast and go to Carnarvon, Denham and Geraldton.

“We sometimes change our minds and deviate off the path and discover new things, but it’s not exactly a planned trip.”